Oriental Jackpot

One of the things I discovered during our visit to Cheyenne was an oriental grocery store. I made a U-turn and went back and came out with a few things. It was like oriental paradise for me as I found items I'd not seen in a very long time. I developed a taste for these items while we lived in Japan from 1961-1965. My favorite items are a type of Japanese rice crackers known as Senbei (煎餅. They come in various shapes, sizes, and flavors, usually savory but sometimes sweet. Senbei are often eaten with green tea as a casual snack and offered to visiting house guests as a courtesy refreshment.

Senbei are usually cooked by being baked or grilled, traditionally over charcoal. While being prepared they may be brushed with a flavoring sauce, often one made of soy sauce and mirin (rice wine similar to sake). They may then be wrapped with a layer of nori (edible seaweed). Alternatively they may be flavored with salt or so-called "salad" flavoring.

My least favorite senbies are the ones totally wrapped in the seaweed and I never have cared for the dried peas like the ones shown in the picture.

My first recollection and exposure to senbie crackers came the night we landed in Japan. The military assigned a family who would be our "sponsors" kind of like your mentor to show you around and help you out. Our sponsors picked us up at the airport in a car similar to the picture as I remember it.Susan, Nancy, Jimmy and I were put into the back end of the car - the trunk area. I remember that the lady gave each one of us kids what I thought as a cookie. It was something about the size of a chocolate chip cookie. We thanked her for the cookie and then I took my first bite. It was horrible! It tasted nothing like a chocolate chip cookie. It tasted hot, it tasted spicy and there was no way to wash the taste down. My siblings all had the same reaction as I did. What were we going to do with this "cookie"? They looked to me for the answer as I was the big sister and had the answers to everything, right?

This car had large spaces around the tires and called "wheel wells". The only thing I could think to do with the senbies was stick it down as far as I could into the closest wheel well. Everyone else followed suit. A short time later we were offered another "cookie" and we graciously took it, thanking her for it because our mother had taught us to have good manners. In my mind it would have been impolite to refuse another one. We each took another bite of our individual senbie and then proceeded to once again stuff it into the wheel well. No more were offered to us - thank goodness.

I have often wondered if these eight senbies were ever discovered and if they were did they realize who had placed them there?

During the course of the next four years though I did develop a taste for, no, a love for senbies. They could be purchased for about 1 yen each which would have been like buying penny candy. I have my favorites and I definitely have some I would never want to eat again.

So, it was exciting for me to go to the oriental grocery store and select several different types, as well as noodles and spices. Now I'll just have to find my chopsticks.